Current News

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org March 24, 2011You can call it Frank. You can call it Fred. But don’t call it a single-payer health care system. That was the message Representative Mark Larson, D-Burlington, delivered to lawmakers in the House Appropriations Committee last week and during the House floor debate on Vermont’s latest effort to reform its health care system. The euphemism single-payer was struck from the bill in an amendment to make the legislation more palatable to Republicans, sources say. The bill passed 89-47 after eight hours of debate, speeches, amendments and roll call votes. The legislation now goes to the state Senate.
The actual, rather unsexy moniker? ‘A Road Map to a Universal and Unified Health System,’ or Green Mountain Care, for short.

Two foresters from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation recently participated in an interstate effort to survey for the emerald ash borer in eastern New York. The emerald ash borer is an invasive insect from Asia, which was detected in Ulster and Greene Counties in New York last summer. The State of New York, with assistance from the US Forest Service, is conducting a survey to delineate the extent of this infestation so that management options to slow the spread of the insect can be developed.

The City of Burlington announced today that Fitch Ratings has assigned a BBB rating to $37 million in outstanding Burlington International Airport (BTV) revenue bonds, with a negative outlook. This represents a downgrade from the BBB+ Fitch rating maintained by BTV. However, the rating by Fitch is investment grade and represents an improvement from the last rating BTV received from Moody’s Investors Services in May and October of 2010. City and Airport officials cited substantial progress in addressing BTV’s financial issues.
‘The City is pleased that Fitch has preserved an investment-grade rating for BTV and recognizes our financial progress,’ said Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss. ‘There is certainly more work to be done, but this demonstrates the Airport and the City are on the right track.’

Draker Labs, a provider of high performance turnkey monitoring systems for large commercial and utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, is moving into new, larger offices on April 1, 2011. The company’s new offices will be located in the Maltex building at 431 Pine Street in Burlington, VT. The move reflects significant growth the company experienced during 2010 as well as future expansion plans.

US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that public housing agencies in Vermont will receive $386,383 to link low-income families with the necessary education and job training to put them on the path to self-sufficiency. These agencies are among nearly 600 that will receive approximately $54 million in grants. See national list here.
Vermont Agency Positions Funded Amount Funded
Brattleboro Housing Authority 1 $49,700.00
Burlington Housing Authority 2 $101,685.00
Vermont State Housing Authority 4 $234,998.00
VT Total: 7 $386,383.00

FairPoint Communications has expanded broadband to hundreds more homes and businesses in Hartford, White River Junction, Wolcott and Readsboro.
FairPoint’s new fiber-based, high-capacity network ‘ called VantagePoint(sm) ‘ offers customers a better, faster way to communicate.
‘VantagePoint is enabling us to expand broadband service into areas with no high-speed Internet access and provide enhanced services across the state,’ said Michael K. Smith, FairPoint state president for Vermont. ‘Broadband availability opens the doors to the world for the residents and businesses in Vermont and is fundamental to the state’s future economic growth.’

Small business lenders now have access to more in-depth information and resources on U.S. Small Business Administration loan programs through the new Lender Toolkit on the agency’s recently redesigned website.
The new site strengthens SBA collaboration with its lending partners, making it easier for them to identify the points of contact, loan programs and financing options that will best expand access to capital for local small businesses to help them grow and create jobs.
Elements of the streamlined Lender Toolkit include useful tools like the ability to download and submit loan packages, updates on interest rates and important lending news, all at www.sba.gov/for-lenders.

National Life Group today released its consolidated financial results for 2010, reporting a record high $1.74 billion in total revenue.

The company also announced that total assets under management grew $3 billion to $28.94 billion, that insurance in force increased roughly $2 billion to just over $62 billion, and that the company’s statutory surplus stood at $1.14 billion.

‘We are in a strong financial position,’ said CEO Mehran Assadi. ‘These numbers tell an impressive story, one of strong operating revenues and a healthy statutory surplus.’

Assadi said the company fared well despite continued uncertainty in the economy. ‘Today’s economic climate has people looking for solutions to meet a lifetime of needs ‘ and that’s what we offer,’ he said.

Spike Advertising has selected Mobius to receive one year’s worth of free marketing services --up to $50,000-- with their ‘Advertising Gone Good’ grant program. Nearly 40 non-profits from around Vermont competed for the grant through a comprehensive RFP process.
‘We are all impressed by the good work that Mobius does in the community," said Ken Millman, President of Spike Advertising. "We are excited to apply a year of focused effort to help raise the profile of this relevant organization."
‘We are both honored and humbled to have been chosen by Spike for this opportunity,’ said Andrea Torello, Executive Director of Mobius. ‘In turn, we hope to use this generous gift to better serve the community and the mentoring programs we work with by finding more mentors for kids and creating that culture of mentoring that we all dream about.’

The City of Burlington and the Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region (AFLCR) will host a special flag-raising event on March 24 in culmination of a series of French cultural events celebrating French month. Mayor Bob Kiss will attend the event and welcome French Consul Général Christophe Guilhou, as well as other officials and community members.
The event will begin at 5 pm in Contois Auditorium, where a French ‘friendship’ flag will be formally presented to the City by Consul Général Guilhou. Following this, a color guard of the Burlington Police and Fire Departments will perform a ceremonial flag-raising outside of City Hall on Church Street. The ceremony will also feature music by the Vermont-based Franco-American musical group Va-et-Vient. The event is free and open to the public.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org March 23, 2011 In the end, the House Dems, despite the best persuasive efforts of a Progressive and an independent representative, were good foot soldiers who did the speaker’s (and the governor’s) bidding: They refrained from straying too far outside the box they were given to work in.
The threat of a minor insurrection, in the form of income tax increases on upper-income Vermonters, was handily put down at the Statehouse on Tuesday ‘ apparently long before the legislation in question, the miscellaneous tax bill, was brought to the House floor.
Lawmakers, largely along party lines, voted 90-47 to raise $24 million in taxes on health care providers and increased the statewide property tax rate by one penny.

Across Vermont, architects, builders and contractors are working to create more energy-efficient businesses and homes. Efficiency Vermont is proud to recognize a select number of those projects with its annual ‘Best of the Best’ Awards.